By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter

The three major parties failed to narrow their differences over contentious bills Monday but agreed to resume negotiations today.

Hong Joon-pyo, floor leader of the governing Grand National Party (GNP), reiterated that his party would pass the bills if Speaker Kim Hyong-o invokes his right to restore order at the legislature, urging lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) to halt their occupation of the Assembly's main chamber.

If the speaker tables the controversial bills, the conservative GNP will likely easily pass them as it commands more than a majority of 172 seats in the 299-member unicameral legislature. The liberal DP has 83 seats.

In a last-ditch effort to settle the inter-party dispute that has paralyzed the Assembly, floor leaders of the parties held two rounds of talks to overcome their differences.

The move came after Speaker Kim extended the deadline for the passage of some controversial bills to early next month.

During the talks at the Assembly, Hong called for the passage of a motion to ratify the free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States and revisions to allow cross-media ownership, in addition to the approval of bills to support people's livelihood.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) and the Liberty Forward Party (LFP) agreed on the passage of the public livelihood-related bills, but opposed the FTA and media-related motions.

``We cannot accept the GNP's offer unless the ruling camp drops media-related and other `evil' bills,'' DP floor leader Won Hye-young told reporters after the talks.

President Lee Myung-bak, meanwhile, asked the GNP to redouble its efforts to pass the FTA motion before Jan. 20 when U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is scheduled to take office, party officials said.

The opposition parties have also raised objections to GNP-proposed bills to ban street protestors from wearing masks, and allowing the National Intelligence Service to collect a wider range of domestic intelligence, calling them undemocratic and an attempt to reinforce political surveillance.

The DP has also demanded the scrapping of bills on cutting taxes, arguing that they are only designed for the rich.

In a press conference in Busan, Speaker Kim proposed that bills to support the people's livelihood be passed tomorrow.

He urged DP lawmakers to end a sit-in at the Assembly's main chamber unconditionally by midnight and restore all facilities to their original state.

He indicated that he would invoke his right to restore order at the legislature today if DP legislators continued their protest.

Kim said, ``As the three major parties have agreed on passing bills related to bread-and-butter issues, I will put them to a vote in a plenary session, Wednesday. There is no reason to delay them to next year if there is no difference in the views of the parties.''

Both the GNP and the DP share the view that economic rescue plans need to be approved quickly to help overcome the economic downturn.

Kim pledged to take all measures necessary as speaker if the governing and opposition parties do not heed his call.

The DP apologized for the seizure of the Assembly's main hall and promised to end it but did not make any concessions over the FTA motion and the so-called ``seven evil bills'' regarding the media.

``The FTA motion should be dealt with after the government announces countermeasures and holds full discussions,'' floor leader Won and his Liberty Forward Part counterpart Kwon Sun-taik said in a joint statement after the meeting.

The two parties urged the speaker to cancel his plan to invoke his right to table contentious bills.

They called on the GNP to apologize for its unilateral action to introduce the FTA motion on Dec. 18, which they say caused the violent clash in parliament.

DP spokeswoman Kim Yoo-jung said the remarks made by the speaker in Busan disappointed her party. ``Speaker Kim's stand lacks neutrality. We will not back off from our position unless he promises that he will not exercise his right to table bills.''

The GNP said the speaker's proposal shows that he sees the violent clash that took place at the Assembly, Dec. 18, from a naive viewpoint. ``People want to put an end to the current Assembly paralysis this year and they hope that they will not see a similar melee in the New Year,'' it said.

ksy@koreatimes.co.kr